


pumpkins

by haeteddy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Autumn, Halloween, M/M, Pumpkins, fall - Freeform, haechan earth boy, halloween story kinda, mostly soft, plant boy, slowly falling in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27273283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haeteddy/pseuds/haeteddy
Summary: Something about the universe makes Donghyuck feel like there is a greater purpose to everything that is happening. Just as the time he meets Mark Lee. Nothing could have prepared him for that and that is what makes it so beautiful to him. The kind of first meeting that changes your whole life in an instant. It starts small but blossoms into something so huge not even a mountain like the Mount Everest could compare. And all of this because of pumpkins.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	pumpkins

**Author's Note:**

> hellooo :D  
> i decided to start writing a halloween/fall inspired story!! honestly, i wanted to finish the whole story before halloween but i don't think i will be able to ugh >:(  
> i promise i will try to post as frequently n fast as possible though!!  
> to wrap this up, i hope everyone enjoys this story and i'd be very happy if you left me some feedback <3

It is an average day of the beginning of the fall season. The asphalt is still wet from the recent rain that prassled down onto the streets in the early morning. It is chilly outside, just chilly enough for Mark to get his favorite sweater and a brown beanie.  
Honestly, he doesn’t even know what he is going to do today, a Saturday within the holidays, but he is certain that plans will be made as the day continues on. One of his friends will probably come along. Or maybe, if it’s a lucky day, even all of them. 

As he continues to walk down the stairs, he can already hear his parents talking. They must be having breakfast since it’s still pretty early, Mark doesn’t really get how he woke up so early but he decided that he could just make the most of it.  
There’s some feeling about waking up early that makes Mark feel nice, since he has more of the day than usual. And even though it’s not his favorite kind of weather, he’s ought to cherish this day the most he possibly can. 

“Mark?”, he hears a soft voice coming from the kitchen, it’s his mother. 

“I’m here”, he answers and walks up into the kitchen. 

“I didn’t expect you to be up so early, love”, his mother says with a smile and he smiles back tenderly. 

“Ah, mom. Me neither, but I actually feel rested so I thought I could get up early today”, is Mark’s reply to that and he gets another sweet smile from his mom back. 

“Honestly, this is perfect timing, I need to get some pumpkins from Fullsun Florist but I forgot that I had a doctors appointment set for the same time I should be there. Would you be so kind and pick them up for me?”, his mom asks him to which he nods. 

“Sure thing, just give me the address and I’ll be there”, Mark answers and gives his mom a warm smile. 

“You’re the best”, she just says as she gets up and gives her son a kiss on the head. 

“I’ll send you the address on your phone since all of you kids seem to use your navigation on the phone nowadays. And don’t worry, the Lee kid is a really sweet boy, I bet you will like him”, his mom explains while she puts her plate and mug away. 

The Lee kid. Mark has heard about him a few times, just from friends that told him stories that included him, but he never met the boy in person somehow. It always is exciting but also a little nerve-wrecking for Mark to meet new people because sometimes he seems to be better at socializing in his head than he is in reality. 

His mom has already continued to send him the address so he saves it for when he has to leave. There’s still some time left for Mark to get some breakfast so Mark decides to eat some cereal with his favorite vanilla flavored oat-milk.  
Both his mom and dad have already left for their daily schedule so Mark is left alone in the kitchen. The only thing audible is the silent ticking of the clock on the wall and Mark’s humming to a random song that he has stuck in his mind. 

When Mark is done with his early meal, he quickly cleans it up and goes to put his shoes on. He still is a little early but he chooses to just get going and wait there in the car.  
While walking up to his car, he sees one of his neighbors sweeping away leaves that have fallen off of the trees the night before. To be honest, Mark still thinks it is a bit early but this neighbor is always kind of nit-picking so you will see him cleaning every other day. Even during summers he never sits still and just always does some garden work. It’s a miracle to Mark. 

A little shaky from the cold, Mark gets into the car and shivers for a second. For Mark just the slightest drop in the temperature means that he will feel cold unnecessarily fast. It really is annoying.  
So Mark turns the heater to the highest temperature after he starts the engine. 

“Not this song”, he complains when the radio turns on and skips onto the next radio station. Nothing is worse for Mark than listening to a song that he absolutely despises, he would rather smash his head against a brick wall. 

The next song on the radio puts a huge smile on Mark’s lips and he immediately starts to sing along. Mamma Mia by Abba. A total banger. 

“Mamma Mia, here I go again”, he sings while taking a turn to the right. When Mark finally arrives, he sees that he is there ten minutes earlier so he just stays sitting in his car. 

There are a few messages from his friends and as expected, one of his friends has asked in their friend group chat if everyone including Mark wants to come over tonight. It was Jeno. 

JENO: everyone ready to come over at mine today? 8:04pm ha  
RENJUN: bruh why 8:04pm?  
JENO: why not  
RENJUN: ok, sure  
JAEMIN: yessss  
JENO: nice  
CHENLE: i’m in too :]

Since Mark is gonna be free this evening, he decides that he will come over too. So he sends a ‘ofc I’ll be there’ to which he gets a ‘thumbs up’ by Jeno.  
For Mark, gatherings with his friends are one of the best things in the world. It always makes him feel so fuzzy and warm inside, like a cozy fire on a cold winter night. When he is with them he feels as happy as a honeybee tucked up in a clover. They are his ever-moving homes. 

After answering his texts, Mark checks the clock again and it tells him that he still has five minutes left. But he decides that he wants to check out the flower shop that is right in front of him. 

From the outside it is rather medium-sized, the most striking part is that it is right in front of the beginning of a forest. You can see a little stream flowing in a short distance next to it. The trees surrounding the back of it and the small leaves growing on the brick make it appear really welcoming. A rather small sign saying ‘Fullsun Florist’ is displayed right over the entrance, it seems old but just adds onto the snug feeling the building radiates.  
Eagerly, Mark gets out of his car and walks towards the shop. It seems like the shop is pulling him in like a magnet because suddenly Mark can’t wait to check it out from the inside. As Mark walks on, he looks at the flowers in their pots outside the shop and can already smell the sweet flowery scent. 

“Mhhm”, he exhales and smiles to himself. 

For an unknown reason his heart begins to beat faster, leaving it’s usual slow and calm pace. A little sigh leaves Mark’s lips, he checks if he has everything he needs, and then enters. 

You can hear a bell ringing as he gets in, to signal that there is a new customer. The flower shop is certainly packed, there’s quite a few people walking around looking at all the different kinds of plants. 

At first it seems a little overwhelming to see all these plants but after a while it is recognizable that it is actually very organized. The boy managing it must put all of his heart and soul into his store.  
Something about this store makes Mark feel at ease, he feels like the flowers are turning him all comfy and nice inside. A strange aura wrapping him up to soothe him, to only make him think about all the good things in the world. 

As Mark strolls deeper into the store, the amount of people decreases and the comfy feeling inside of him intensifies. It gets quieter and it feels like the flowers and Mark are the only thing in the world. If it isn’t for the boy standing in the far back, seemingly talking to a flower. Out of curiosity Mark steps closer until he can hear the boy’s soft words. 

“You’re doing well”, he hears the boy say and it gives Mark a sweet feeling in his stomach. The words sound so sincere, so calming and on top of that the boy’s voice sounds as calm and nice as a white cloud in the summer sky. 

Now that Mark has a closer look, he can see that the boy looks really soft in his outfit. A brown beret with a vintage sweater, the sleeves reaching over his hands, brown wide pants and white chucks. 

Somehow Mark almost falters at the sight, the boy looks sweeter than the sweetest maple syrup Mark has ever tasted. He looks as gentle as the yellow flowers in front of him.  
“Oh, hello”, Mark suddenly hears him speaking, he is being interrupted from his thoughts. 

It is the very same boy that he was internally crying about. For a second Mark stands there like a deer in the headlights. Gentle boy looking at him with expectant but soft-smiling eyes. 

“Hi?”, Mark half asks and could slap himself for that. 

Where have his communication skills gone? It takes only one simple cute boy in front of him and suddenly he turns into an awkward mess. The soft-eyed boy just giggles, still looking at him. 

“Are you looking for something?”, he asks and makes a hand sign to all the flowers. 

And then it hits Mark, this must be Lee Donghyuck!  
The young boy who owns the flower store. He never expected him to be this madly pretty, never thought he would be this adorable. 

“Uh, my mom”, Mark says and the boy, Donghyuck, looks at him questiongly. 

“You’re looking for your mom?”, he questions and Mark shakes his head. 

“No, no. My mom ordered two pumpkins that I am supposed to pick up. It was ordered under the name ‘Lee’”, he continues and Donghyuck nods. 

“Oh, yes. They’re in the back, you can follow me and I’ll get them.” 

So Mark follows cute-beret boy named Lee Donghyuck to the back and waits for him to get the pumpkins. In the meantime Mark tries to calm himself a little, he can’t believe this boy’s sole presence makes him feel so strange. 

“There you go”, Donghyuck says while he places the bags with the pumpkins inside before him. “My helper Jisung must be in the front at the cash register, you can pay there”, Donghyuck says and smiles widely. 

And there goes Mark’s self control. No sign left of the comforting feeling he did have before meeting this deadly sweet boy.  
“I didn’t know you own this store when I saw you talking to the flowers..”, Mark blurts out before he can even think. 

Donghyuck grins at him. “Yeah, I’m still young. I inherited this store from my parents and it has been my baby ever since..”, he answers and shows Mark his pretty smile again. “And ah, I believe that it helps the flowers when I talk to them”, he adds. 

“Makes sense”, Mark says and gives Donghyuck a wide smile back. “It’s a really pretty store”, he voices, hoping he can make Donghyuck happy with his compliment. 

The big grin on his face shows that Mark’s attempt worked. 

“Thank you so much, that’s so nice to hear”, he thanks Mark, his eyes glowing beautifully. 

“Excuse me?”, their conversation suddenly gets interrupted by a customer. 

It’s Mark’s sign to leave, so he waves Donghyuck a goodbye which the boy returns. Mark’s heart jumps a little. With a silent sigh, he picks up the bags and returns to the front of the store again. 

When he reaches the cash register, he waits for another customer to pay and then it is his turn. 

“Hello”, a young boy greets him. It must be Jisung. 

“Hi”, Mark smiles at him and puts the pumpkin back on the table. 

Jisung checks them out and types something into the cashpoint. “That’s 7,99, please”, he announces and Mark gets out the cash. 

He gives it to Jisung who takes it from him. 

“Thank you, have a great day”, the boy says. 

“You too!”, Mark replies and smiles at him one last time.  
Then he turns around and leaves the flower store. As he steps outside, there are some raindrops falling down. One falls right onto the top of his head. 

“Great”, he mumbles and fastens his pace. The clotted clouds make him feel heavy, as heavy as the thump of an anvil hitting the floor. 

He gets into his car quickly, groaning about how cold it has gotten while he was in the flower store. Swiftly, he turns on his car and revives the engine. This time, a more nostalgic song plays on the radio as he pulls out of the parking space. 

During the drive his thoughts can’t seem to leave Lee Donghyuck. His appearance has burned itself into Mark’s mind. 

The beret, and the chestnut curls peeking out under it. All of it makes Mark want to turn back and keep on talking to him. It is a wonder to Mark, no one has ever flustered him like this. They have exchanged only a few sentences and Mark would be ready to hang stars for him. Or maybe in this case, he would be ready to plant any given flower for this boy. It seems ridiculous and Mark tries to think about something else. 

But after a minute of trying, his mind would always wander back to the boy. So Mark surrenders his mind and lets himself think. The pumpkins on his backseat reminding him of the boy even more. 

The drive goes so swift and in what felt like seconds, he is already standing in the driveway to his home. Mark grabs the pumpkins as he gets out and walks to his front door, still deep in thought. Quickly, he unlocks it because there are still cold raindrops pouring down, making Mark feel uneasy. Since Mark hasn’t seen any other cars in the driveway, he knows that his parents still aren’t home. 

Carefully, he lays down the pumpkins on the kitchen table and writes a little note.  
‘Got the pumpkins, I met Donghyuck too, he is really nice. I’ll be in my room if you need me’. 

“Really nice”, Mark scoffs. “More like really fucking cute”, he groans and walks away from the kitchen table.  
It is a tradition within his family to write notes, even when his brother was still living with them they always used to write notes up until now. And the existence of phones has not changed a thing about it. 

It reminds Mark of the old times so he made his mom promise not to ever stop. Just some sugar-coated nostalgia. 

Writing those notes makes him feel like he is still in fifth grade, his only worries consisting of how to hide his newly bought candies from his brother and how to secretly sneak his Nintendo into his room past his bedtime. 

Mark enters his warm bedroom, luckily he already thought of turning on the heater earlier before he left the room. With a silent moan he plops himself down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. 

Will he ever see Donghyuck again? 

Should he try and see him again? 

Unanswered questions flooding Mark’s mind, swirling around and growling at him like a wild animal released from it’s cage. Out of frustration, Mark closes his eyes. 

“Stop thinking!”, he urges himself in his thoughts.

Then, many failed attempts of him trying to recollect his thoughts follow.  
So he gets his phone out, plays some games and just scrolls through social media until his mind becomes more busy. 

After a while he gets bored, so he decides to do some uni work that has been waiting for him like the words in a pen. He is distracted by all the uni work until it is almost 2:30pm. In his mind Mark gives himself a little pad on the shoulder for getting so much stuff done. 

A few hours later, Mark has already eaten dinner and is getting ready to drive to Jeno’s. Most of the day was spent lounging around, after getting so much work done and the rain still dripping down, he doesn’t even feel bad for wasting most of his time.  
Sometimes you have to waste time in order to feel more relaxed. Especially when it is a rainy day. 

Happily, Mark hums while putting his shoes on, not really anticipating to go back into the cold rain. The arriving dawn outside not making it any better. 

“I’m gone to Jeno’s now”, Mark shouts and hears an “Okay” from his mom. 

Picking up his car keys from the board hanging on the wall, he opens the door and the cold air hits him right into his face like a boxer in the ring. 

Almost running, he tries to get to his car as quickly as possible. When he is finally inside, he can see the raindrops weeping down on the car windows. The rain is so heavy it sounds like it is beating up the car. 

It is a rather quick drive to Jeno’s place, during the summer Mark would usually walk there or take the bike but when it’s cold, Mark would not even do that in exchange for money.  
In the embrace of the warm air of his heater in the car, he drives through the streets. After four minutes he parks on the side of the road, Renjun’s car already taking up the nearest  
parking space to Jeno’s house. 

“Why does Renjun always have to be so early?”, Mark cusses while leaving the car. 

The raindrops are still falling down on the asphalt the same pace, sounding as if they are trying to applaud themselves. Mark runs the way up to Jeno’s house and exhales in relief when he reaches the front door that has a little roof over it, protecting Mark from the rain.  
Not long after he rings the door, he hears footsteps approaching and then Jeno is standing before him. 

“Helloooooo”, he greets Mark enthusiastically and lets him in. 

“Hiiiii”, Mark greets him back and gives him a quick hug. 

“Is it still raining?”, Jeno asks and Mark pulls a face while nodding. 

“I can make you some tea”, he offers him while Mark takes off his shoes.  
“Nah, it's okay, but thanks, man”, Mark turns down the kind offer and follows him into his room. 

When he gets into the room, the others cheer at him. Everyone is already there, in the warm room, sitting on either the bed, sofa or floor. Naturally, Mark takes a pillow from the bed and sits down next to Jaemin. They all have their set places to sit, Jaemin and Mark always sit on the floor, Renjun on the sofa and Jeno and Chenle sit next to each other on his bed. 

“How’s it going?”, Jaemin asks after Mark sits down and looks at him with a lazy smile. 

“Not much”, Mark replies and looks at the others. 

“What have you been up to today?”, Renjun questions him. 

Automatically, Mark has to think of Donghyuck in the flower store again, talking to the flowers. But he disregards that thought and answers his friend. 

“I went to pick up some pumpkins at Fullsun Florist, then I just did some uni work and relaxed after. You know how I hate the weather.” 

They all nod. 

“Did you meet Donghyuck? Was Jisung there?”, Chenle asks then and Mark raises his eyebrow. 

He would be lying to himself if he doesn’t acknowledge the fact his heart jumps a little at hearing Donghyuck’s name. 

“I met both of them. Why?”, he asks back. 

“Jisung and I are friends, we went to the same class. And Donghyuck has been friends with Jisung since forever, they’re basically like brothers”, Chenle explains while shrugging. 

“Oh”, Mark just says and his cheeks turn a little red. 

“Why the hell are you blushing?”, Jaemin asks with an underlying smirk.  
He is the only one that can really see the red tint on Mark’s cheeks since he is sitting the closest to him.

“ ‘ts nothing”, Mark tries to dismiss their conversation. “What have you guys been doing?”, he quickly adds on. 

But he doesn’t fail to notice Jaemin looking at him with curiosity. There is one thing about Jaemin, he always notices the slightest changes in someone’s behavior, he can sense differences within seconds, like some kind of psychic. 

“I worked out and then took a nap”, Jeno quickly tells them about his day. His words make everyone laugh. A typical thing for Jeno, first he’d wear himself out and the rest of the day he’d spend sleeping. 

“I studied. Jaemin distracted me because he desperately wanted to watch the next Grey’s Anatomy episode with me. Impatient bitch”, Renjun announces and gives Jaemin a fake mad look. 

“What? You’re blaming me now? Wait until I tell them how much you liked the episode, you’re so fake”, Jaemin retorts and Mark chuckles. 

“You’re both insane, every day I walk in to both of you watching some doctors doing surgeries as if your lives depend on it”, Chenle interferes. 

The three of them have lived together since Renjun originally moved from China with his mom when he was twelve, she moved back without him after he finished highschool but he decided that he wanted to stay. 

Chenle, who also is from China, has lived here ever since he was three and moved in with Renjun and Jaemin because his parents also moved back to China to work on their company there. 

For Jaemin, it’s because his parents have a lot of money and he wanted to help Renjun and Chenle out with their rent money. So he basically kind of lives there for friend-charity, taking up most of the money they have to pay. He knows how much Renjun wanted to stay so he decided to help him out.  
Some people would call him whipped for that. Some people are Mark himself and Jeno. 

“It’s not my fault you’re boring, maybe if you knew how to appreciate medicine!”, Renjun half-shouts and Jaemin starts laughing next to me. 

“Whoever is up there in the sky, please help me”, Chenle just says, looking up. 

He makes everyone chuckle a little and then the conversation just flows like a little stream, taking different directions. 

After a short moment of silence, suddenly Jaemin speaks up again. “So Mark, did the mention of Donghyuck’s name make you blush like this?”, he asks with a grin indicating that he already knows the answer. How is this boy so freaking alert? 

“I have no idea what you are saying”, Mark answers and rolls his eyes playfully. 

“Mark Lee, don’t act like I haven’t known you basically my entire life. Spill the beans”, he nudges him and wiggles his eyebrows. So Mark decides to just tell them. 

“I mean yeah, he’s kind of cute. His voice is really, I don’t know, honey-like. He talked to the flowers, you should have seen it, he was so soft. It made me want to scream, I think”, Mark starts to babble. 

“Uh-huh”, Jaemin and Renjun say at the same time, they just shoot each other funny looks and look at Mark expectantly. 

“I don’t know guys, I just exchanged a few words with him. Our conversation got interrupted right after it started. But somehow when I left I was a little sad, I wanted to talk to him more…. Oh god, this is a mess”, he continues to babble. 

“You met this boy once and he already has you wrapped around his little finger, that’s cute”, Jeno exclaims and smirks. 

“I met Donghyuck briefly a few times and he seems really cool”, Chenle then adds onto the conversation. 

“You met him?”, Mark asks surprised. 

“Yup, sometimes I pick up Jisung from the flower-store so I saw Donghyuck there a few times”, he tells him. 

“Ah, I understand”, Mark responds and nods his head. 

“You should go back”, Jaemin then suggests and looks at Mark. 

“I can’t say that I haven’t thought about it, too”, Mark then says. 

“But…?”, Renjun asks with a raised brow. 

“Wouldn’t it be weird?”, Mark asks while cringing. 

“Just get the biggest bouquet there so it takes some time for him to pick out all the flowers, you can talk to him in the meantime”, Jaemin proposes. 

“Wait, that is actually not bad”, Renjun supports Jaemin’s idea. 

“Thanks, honey”, he then replies jokingly. 

“Ah, I’m not sure. I will think about it, I guess”, Mark speaks and the others nod. 

“I hope you’ll do it, though”, Chenle then voices and the others agree. 

The rest of the night goes by with them just joking around like they always do. It ends up with them deciding to play some Just Dance. 

When Mark sits in the car back to his house, he laughs when he remembers how Renjun twerked and tried to make Jeno twerk too. Whenever he comes back from a night with his friends, for a few minutes after he feels like he could lift up a whole building. They give him some kind of energy that only friends can give you. It’s the best kind of happiness, the truest kind of happiness. 

Shortly after his drive, he brushes his teeth while staring into the mirror.  
Should he really try to see Donghyuck again?  
Should he just go for it and see if he can talk to the boy again? And maybe even try to become his friend? 

Mark doesn’t know why he seems to be wanting to be friends with him so badly but the feeling pulls on him like a dog on a leash. Whatever he tries to do, he cannot shake the weird feeling of longing off. It is stuck on him like the barb on a fishhook. 

So Mark decides that if he still wants to see him within the next few days, he would try out Jaemin’s kind of crazy but genius idea. 

But maybe the feeling will fade and it is just a short-lasting flicker of something inside of Mark’s mind. Somehow though, Mark knows that it won’t go away just like that, the boy made too much of an impression on him. It is so bizarre for Mark, so new that it leaves him questioning himself. 

What makes the boy so special? 

It reminds him of the stars, there are so many stars out there but most of the time Mark seems to be drawn to a certain little star. This happened today with Donghyuck, he is one human within so many humans but Mark finds something about him so interesting that he feels the need to see him again. 

“You’re out of your mind”, Mark tells himself before he drifts off into a very-needed sleep after his mind has been working nonstop like a worker in a toy store during christmas time.


End file.
